Structure

Initially formed in January of 2013 APHERP consists of a combination of universities, government ministries and relevant non-governmental entities (e.g. quality assurance agencies and networks). Their common purpose is to conduct research on emergent higher education changes and to assemble such research in ways that can contribute directly to their own basic missions and inform higher education policy discussions throughout the region.

APHERP is organized around three “core” institutions that perform the role of giving direction, coherence and administrative support to the activities undertaken by the entity. They are in effect, the “operational core” of the partnership (core members) working in support of the organization’s governance and policy structure. A steering committee consists of representatives of the core institutions, supplemented by three members from Foundational institutions serving on rotating two-year terms. All member and participating institutions will be represented on a council that will meet either face to face at an annual research meeting or electronically on a periodic basis (perhaps quarterly).

Core Member Institutions

The East-West Center has combined with the University of Hawaii System to function as one of the core nodes of the organization. The history shared by these institutions in developing seminars, institutes, and a range of face to face engagements, as well as digital contacts and outputs have been valuable in building the new organization. They bring to the table, as it were, the expertise of the East-West Center/UH infrastructure, reputations in the region, and the currently assembled network of scholars and practitioners represented by the work of the predecessor institutions to APHERP, namely the International Forum for Education 2020 (IFE 2020) created by and located at the East-West Center. IFE 2020 was superseded by APHERP as indicated in January 2013.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) is a co-principal institution providing various forms of institutional support in addition to that provided by the EWC/UH, including the capacity to house meetings (seminars, institutes, etc.) within a regionally convenient locale. Each also contributes direct administrative support. The ability of have strong core members within the Asia Pacific region strengthens the reach of APHERP and contributes significantly to the overall expertise of Asia Pacific oriented scholars in both organizations.

Collective Structure

Funding permitting the partnership will hold biennial meetings in the region focused on providing research results, further development of research agendas, and linkage between researchers, programs and consortium institutions.